It’s not unusual to find Melissa Rumbolt in the kitchen cooking up a feed for family and friends.
If it’s not for the people she’s closest to, then she’s doing it for a catering job, or to help out at events around Deer Lake.
Her talents in the kitchen have earned the Deer Lake chef a reputation that has led to her becoming a part of Deer Lake Winterfest, which starts Friday and runs to Feb. 9.
Rumbolt was recently approached by a member of the Winterfest committee, who’s sampled some of her food, to ask if she would be interested in running a junior chefs event for ages 7-14.
And she was only two happy to say yes.
“Winterfest a big thing in Deer Lake,” she said. “It’s just a good time to get out with your family and friends and eat some good food.”
Rumbolt’s love of food goes back to her childhood. She was inspired by her mom, Maxine Short, and by some family members who were chefs, including her aunt, Pauline Thomas, and her grandfather.
After high school, she enrolled in the Culinary Institute of Canada program at Holland College in P.E.I.
She graduated in 1998 and started working in the industry, including stints as chef at the Deer Lake Motel and at the Humber Valley Resort.
She also did some catering and after a while decided to get more into that as a way to stay home with her son, Frankie Legere.
Cooking, she said, makes her happy.
And it was cooking that helped her out of a dark place.
Rumbolt, who moved home when the wildfires hit Fort McMurray in 2016, said she battled issues with drugs and alcohol that took her away from that happiness.
It was cooking and family that helped her turn things around.
The cooking gets her interacting with people.
“Everybody’s got to eat, and food makes people happy, and so when people are happy with my food it makes me happy, so everybody’s happy.”
It’s that interaction that she and her husband, Troy Rumbolt, love. If she’s cooking, then he’s there serving, or they both help with the serving. It’s a chance to connect with and talk with people.
Her love of food and cooking is something she also shares with her son.
Now 11, Frankie loves to be in the kitchen.
“He can whip up a mean omelette if I’m sick,” she said with a laugh. “He likes to eat just like me.”
On Monday night Rumbolt had a counter full of baked goods and the aroma of freshly baked banana bread mingled with the smells of a roast chicken that she was finishing cooking on the top of her wood stove.
A lot of the vegetables she uses come from the area, from a farm owned by her husband’s aunt, Linda Rumbolt.
When she’s working on a big job she’ll get some help from her mom, often doing most of the work at her mom’s home because she has more space and two ovens.
“And we just hang out, and have a laugh and cook.”
The junior chef event will take place on Feb. 9 from 2-4 p.m. at the Salvation Army YP Hall.
It will be the first time for Rumbolt teaching a class.
“And I didn’t pick the easiest meal either.”
They’ll be making homemade pasta from scratch with parmesan Italian meatballs and tomato sauce.
She’ll teach them how to make a well with the flour before adding eggs. And once it’s made they can cut their pasta in any shape they like.
“It’s just fun. It’s kind of like making playdough.”
Rumbolt plans to have the meatballs and sauce made ahead of time, but will show the kids how she did it and provide them with the recipes.
Participating children have to be accompanied by an adult, and they can register by calling 635-3682.
